Social Research design #1
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79 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 epistemology | the science of knowing |
| induction | general principles are developed from specific observations |
| deduction | specific expectations of hypotheses are developed on the basis of general principles (general to specific) |
| theory | a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular aspect of life |
| methodology | the science of finding out |
| variables | logical set of attributes |
| nomothetic | an approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few casual factors that generally impact a class of conditions or events |
| replication | repeating a research study in order to confirm or question findings |
| idiographic | an approach to explanation in which we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a condition or event. |
| post modern view | all that is real is that we get form our own point of view |
| independent variable | given variables |
| premodern view | we see things as they really are |
| dependent variable | depends on or is caused by another |
| modern view | no one is wrong or right |
| paradigms | a model or frame of reference through which to observe and understand |
| positivism | the philosophical system is rounded on the rational proof/disproof of science assertions. assumes a knowable, objective reality |
| operationalization | specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable |
| symbolic interactionism | concerned about micro level observations. how individuals act with each other |
| hypothesis | expectation bout the nature of things derived form a theory |
| structural functionalism | divides social phenomena into parts each of which serves a function in the whole operation |
| operational definition | how observations are to be categorized |
| feminist paradigms | view and understand society through experiences of women |
| null hypothesis | no statistical relationship between variables |
| anonymity | neither the researcher or the readers know the identity of the participants |
| value free sociology | keeping personal values out of it |
| confidentiality | researcher can identify the participant but readers can't |
| debriefing | interviewing subjects to learn about their experiences of participating in the project |
| spuriousness | a coincidental statistical correlation between two variables caused by some third variable |
| unit of analysis | the what or whom being studied |
| sociobiology | a paradigm based on the view that social behavior can be explained solely in terms of genetic characteristics and behavior |
| cohort study | a study in which some specific subpopulation is studies overtime, although data may be collected from members in each set of observations |
| social artifacts | any product of social beings or their behavior |
| ecological fallacy | just because two things are going on doesn't mean they are related |
| trend studies | type of longitudinal study in which a given characteristic of some population in monitored over time |
| correlation | empiracle relationship between two variables such that the changes in one are associated with changes in the outer or particular attributes of one variable are associated with the other |
| reductionism | a strict limitation of the kinds of concepts to be considered relevant to the phenomena under study |
| longitudinal study | a study design involving the collection of data at different points in time |
| cross sectional study | a study based on observations representing a single point in time |
| conceptualization | mental process whereby imprecise notions are made clear and more specific |
| ratio measure | level of measurement describing a variable with attributes that have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal and interval measures and in addition are based on a true zero point |
| face validity | the quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable |
| indicator | an observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study |
| nominal measures | a variable whose attributes have only the characteristic of exhaustiveness and mutual exclusiveness. |
| ordinal measures | describing a variable with attributes we can rank order on some dimension |
| reliablity | the quality of measurement method tha suggests the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations |
| interval measure | variable attributes are rank ordered and have equal distances between attributes |
| dimension | a specifiable aspect of a concept |
| validity | describing a measure that accurately reflects the concept is is inter to measure |
| index | type of composite measure that summarizes and rank- orders several specific observations and represents some more general dimension. |
| scale | type of composite measure compsed of several items that have a logical or empiracle structure among them |
| bivariate relationship | relationship between 2 variables |
| multivariate relationship | relationship between more than 2 variables |
| Bogardus social distance scale | measurement technique for determining the willingness of people to participate is social relations with other kinds of people |
| Likert scale | an attempt to improve the levels of measurement in social research through the use of standardized response categories in survey questionnaires to determine the relative intensity of different items |
| Guttman scale | used to summarize several discrete observations and to represent some more general variable |
| typology | the classification of observation in items of their attributes on two or more variables |
| purposive sampling | A type of nonprobability sampling in which the units to be observed are selected on the basis of the researcher's judgment about which ones will be the most useful or representative. |
| snowball sampling | A nonprobability sampling method, often employed in field research, whereby each person interviewed may be asked to suggest additional people for interviewing. |
| nonprobablitly sampling | Any technique in which samples are selected in some way not suggested by probability theory. |
| sampling frame | That list or quasi list of units composing a population from which a sample is selected. |
| informant | Someone who is well versed in the social phenomenon that you wish to study and who is willing to tell you what he or she knows about it. |
| quota sampling | A type of nonprobability sampling in which units are selected into a sample on the basis of prespecified characteristics, so that the total sample will have the same distribution of characteristics assumed to exist in the population being studied. |
| probability sampling | The general term for samples selected in accord with probability theory, typically involving some random-selection mechanism. |
| systematic sampling | A type of probability sampling in which every kth unit in a list is selected for inclusion in the sample |
| random selection | A sampling method in which each element has an equal chance of selection independent of any other event in the selection process. |
| parameter | The summary description of a given variable in a population. |
| study population | That aggregation of elements from which a sample is actually selected. |
| sampling unit | That element or set of elements considered for selection in some stage of sampling. |
| stratified sampling | The grouping of the units composing a population into homogeneous groups (or strata) before sampling. |
| statistic | The summary description of a variable in a sample, used to estimate a population parameter. |
| sampling error | The degree of error to be expected by virtue of studying a sample instead of everyone |
| confidence | A multistage sampling in which natural groups (clusters) are sampled initially, with the members of each selected group being subsampled afterward. |
| representativeness | aggregate characteristics of the sample closely approximate those same aggregate characteristics of the population |
| experimental group | in experimentation, a group of subjects to whom an experimental stimulus is administered. |
| control group | In experimentation, a group of subjects to whom no experimental stimulus is administered and who should resemble the experimental group in all other respects |
| double bind experiment | An experimental design in which neither the subjects nor the experimenters know which is the experimental group and which is the control. |
| randomization | A technique for assigning experimental subjects to experimental and control groups randomly. |
| internal validity | Refers to the possibility that the conclusions drawn from experimental results may not accurately reflect what went on in the experiment itself. |
| matching | in connection with experiments, the procedure whereby pairs of subjects are matched on the basis of their similarities on one or more variables, and one member of the pair is assigned to the experimental group and the other to the control group. |
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